Shell's Falcon 8X lands in Rotterdam as oil markets shift on Hormuz reopening

Shell's Dassault Falcon 8X, registered as VQ-BXF, was tracked flying from London Luton Airport to Rotterdam The Hague Airport on June 24, a 45-minute hop covering 19,000 feet at a maximum ground speed of 417 knots.

If Shell executives were aboard, the timing places them in Rotterdam the same week that oil prices tumbled below $75 a barrel for the first time since the Iran war began, as more tankers openly cross the Strait of Hormuz amid U.S.-Iran peace talks, per a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. The International Energy Agency estimates the UAE is now exporting oil at nearly 85% of pre-war levels, while stranded tankers carrying millions of barrels have begun exiting the Gulf, adding to global supply and pressuring prices.

The flight follows a busy week for Shell's aircraft, which previously hopped between Aberdeen, Oslo, Cologne, Hamburg, and London — typical stops for a major energy company monitoring global production shifts. With the Strait of Hormuz reopening and Middle Eastern wells preparing to restart after wartime shut-ins, as CNN noted, Shell's presence in Rotterdam — home to one of Europe's largest oil hubs — suggests the company is closely watching the rapidly changing supply landscape.